


Through the Woods we Ran

by kasiopeia



Series: To learn what it's like [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Book Spoilers, F/M, Gen, Modern AU, Warning for non explicit violence and general GoT violence, canonical character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 21:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasiopeia/pseuds/kasiopeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a story from long ago about a man who stole a woman. Or did she steal him? The versions vary, but the end result is always the same: both of them dead in a pool of their own blood.</p>
<p>Starks and the people they encounter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through the Woods we Ran

There was a story from long ago about a man who stole a woman. Or did she steal him? The versions vary, but the end result is always the same: both of them dead in a pool of their own blood. 

If this was the story of Romeo and Juliet the two quarreling families would find peace by their deathbed; brought together by the tragic romance. But by now Sansa knows that life is not like the great stories; Lyanna and Rehagar started a war that has not yet ended, and theirs is not a happily ever after.

 

 

 

Father was dead. Father was dead. Father was _dead._

The words repeated and boomed inside Bran's too quiet head. The white walls in the hospital room is as blank as his insides, his heart, his eyes, his _mind_ , and most of all as the place where his legs used to be before the bullets took them away too. 

A crow perches on the windowsill, and Bran dreams.

 

 

 

 

There are so many things to think about, so many vows to keep. Robb feels his mother's gaze on him, like a weight pushing him down; he knows she must compare him to people long gone and find him wanting every time. 

Robb wants to honor his father, he wants to please his mother, he wants to find his sisters, he wants to live life to the fullest for Bran who no longer can, he wants to win back the Stark legacy, but most of all he longs to make everyone proud of him. To be a person worthy of everyone's trust. 

(Ned Stark did everything right, and that is the heavy knowledge Robb always carries in his heart.)

He doesn't feel like 'the king of the north' as his father's associates has named him. But he puts on a brave face and every day he goes to war in the hope that everything might yet turn out alright.

 

 

 

Sansa marries Tyrion one early morning while the sun filters through the chapels windows. The wedding vows bind her like chains and by the end of the ceremony, when she turns to smile at the gathered crowd, they are so tight that she can hardly breathe. But she doesn't let it show, not when Joffrey holds her tight on the dance floor while whispering obscene threats in her ears. Not even when her new husband refuses their marriage bed and she feels like she might finally cry.

Sansa might be a lot of things, but most of all she is a survivor.

 

 

 

Robb marries Jeyne because he loves her, of course. 

Robb also marries Jeyne because in this of all things he won't be his father. He has watched Jon grow up in the shadow of his family, he knows his brother has a chip on his shulder and a wound in his heart that will never heal. And he don't want any child of his to feel unwanted, to grow up with his or her nose pressed against the glass, watching but never belonging. 

So he breaks one promise to honor his own, and when he looks at Jeyne he can't find himself regretting it one bit.

And so it is with Jeyne's name on his lips he dies, safe in the knowledge that their unborn child will grow up with a mother who loves him and stories of a father who would do anything to protect him.

(He knows he must die for others to live)

 

 

 

 

Sansa sits at the back of the church, her hair gathered under the hood of her sweater. The voice of the priest washes over her, today's text is Matthew chapter 9, and she smiles slightly at that. The benches in front of her are mostly empty, people shattered around in pairs and groups. 

_Blessed are the poor in spirit,_

She doesn't know why this is their meeting place, but it's as good as any. A woman on the other side of the aisle looks at her, and she drags her hood further down, casting a shadow over her face. She knows that her clothes are dirty, that her face is no better and that she must look quite the sight. But then there have to be many more like her in the city now, people who no longer have a place to call home. She is grateful that the clothes cover her scars and that she is able to blend in. 

_Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth._

The words of the priest wash over her and she feels like she could float away; let the words take her and lift her up, up, up and away. 

(Maybe then she would finally be free)

Sansa knows that her escape from the lions does not make her free. She will not be free as long as her enemies are still alive. Because she will have her revenge for her father's murder, and she will see justice done. 

Someone sits down next to her, quiet and unassuming. "I should have known it would be you." is all she says and keeps her attention on the priest.

_Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven._

When the service is over they both get up, and as they move down the church steps the Mockingbird curls his fingers around her elbow and holds on. 

 

 

 

 

 

(Beth, Cat, Salty, Nan, Weasel, Arry, Arya)

 

It is a move that has been in the making for a long time. Years if she is being honest with herself (she rarely is these days, but who's keeping score anyway?). She sinks her needle into the soft flesh of the man in front of her, whispers her parting words _winter is coming_ and fades back into the shadows.

(if his flesh was more yielding than she thought, or the sight of his life leaving his eyes twisted something inside of her, or if she found herself vomiting in an alley later that night; she'll never tell, because honesty is overrated. And she needs to be strong.)

She can't afford to look back. Valar Mulorgis. All men must die.

 

(Beth, Cat, Salty, Nan, Weasel, Arry)

 

 

 

 

The mockingbird comes closer and closer to his goals. They no longer align with hers, so she takes what she needs and leaves him behind, his blood on her hands.

(He always told her poison was a woman's weapon so she does him the courtesy of killing him with a knife.)

 

 

 

Sandor remembers the first time he saw her, Sansa Stark; a dream in soft, elegant pink and flaming red hair. Her big eyes looking at Joffrey with blind adoration and a wonderment of the world he didn't think existed.

The first time he sees her _after_ her hair is brown, but the blood covering her body and running down her face gives her more than enough red. The eyes looking at him are older and more tired than he ever thought they could be and he finds himself missing the naivety he used to mock. She doesn't say anything just looks at him over the bodies of the men they killed together before she gives him a court nod and he knows he has been accepted. She turns and walks out of the room, back as straight as ever and he follows her.

(He would follow her anywhere.)

 

 

 

The day she wakes up without her sight she gives herself one moment to panic. And then she gets on with her life.

Arya might be a lot of things, but most of all she is a survivor.

 

 

 

He is cold. 

That is the first thought that hits him, the next is how absurd that thought really is, he's fucking dead; of course he's cold. Then Jon passes out again.

The next time he wakes he realizes that he is _not_ dead. The way he knows is that his whole body is on fire from pain. He groans and turns his head to bite at the blanket under him. When he feels up for it he takes in his surroundings and sees cold black walls and snow outside the window. The room is empty; he is alone. 

(Jon Snow is always alone.)

 

 

The Blackfish is quiet and kind. This Sansa knows to be true.

But he also has the ability to be quite cutting and cruel. He sees what is there, what is not and is not afraid to share this knowledge. He calls her a fool when she talks about her sister, naive when she trusts the Hound and cuts to the core of her insecurities with swift jabs. In her heart of hearts she knows he tries to make her stronger, to make her better than she is and she knows she needs that. 

And she might love him if she remembered how, he is her family and she has little of that to go around.

(It is only when she finds Arya, and when the Hound proves to be trustworthy and when her strength is what gets them through everything, that she realizes that he might not be as insightful as they both had given him credit for. 

For all that he is, he still, as everyone else, underestimated her.)

 

 

 

There are rumors about a Targeryen moving in and taking over. There's talk of peace on the horizon, but no one believes it.

There are also rumors about a wolf in the night, red as blood and vengeful as few. No one knows who it is, but were they to guess not one of them would have pictured sweet Sansa Stark. They should all have remembered that she, as much as any of them, was her father's daughter. There are two wolves roaming the night now, sisters in perfect unison because they have a common goal; to a Stark winter is not just a season, it's a state of being, it is a consequence and a sentence.

(And the one who passes the sentence has to swing the sword.)

 

 

 

Rickon is angry. Always angry and always on the move. He rages against everything he's lost, and everything that helped him lose it. He would kick and scream and bring it all down around him, if it wasn't for the look Bran gives him; full of regret, loss and longing for something that once was. 

(but the little boy Bran longs for isn't in there anymore. Rickon knows even if Bran has yet to realize)

It seems like the only time he can stand still is when he is with Bran. Because Bran needs him, Bran loves him and when Bran is there Rickon feels light even when he is shouldering Bran's weight in addition to his own. 

 

 

 

 

Tyrion rounds the corner and stops short when he sees the people in front of him; two of Dany's guards are standing facing him, and between them a slight girl with long, dark hair stands. Her posture is guarded, almost submissive, but her hand is curling around a knife strapped to the small of her back. He can tell that the guards can't see the knife and by their faces he can tell that they see no threat, just the sureness of men who are used to having the upper hand. 

"Guards!" he says loudly and without a moment's thought. "What is going on here?" 

Two things happen at once; the guards shift their focus to him, and the girl freezes. She doesn't turn around, but she draws the knife an inch more and suddenly he can see what she sees: the opening the guard on her right has left, how relaxed they both are and how (miraculously) their focus is not on her anymore. He can see her feet move slightly to give better leverage, but he speaks up before she can move.

(later he will wonder what made him do it. He wants to believe that some part of him knew who she was, that he wanted to protect, or impossibly make up for past wrongdoings. But the larger part of him knows that he was simply afraid, that he knew that if she managed to kill the guards, he would be next.)

"Never mind. You are dismissed, I will deal with this." 

The guards leave, but the girl still faces away. The hand on the knife doesn't move, and he doesn't know why he says the next thing either.

"Look at me." he says in a low voice. She still doesn't move, not even when he takes one slow step closer.

"Do you even know how to use that knife you are holding?"

She gives a small laugh, closer still to just breathing out, loosens her grip on the blade and straightens her shoulders. "I learnt long ago that the only one who could protect me was myself." she says as she turns around. 

"Winter is here and I mean to survive it" says the woman who once was Sansa Stark.


End file.
